00:00About 14km south of Tanjung Punyusup, Johor lies a small island made up of granite rocks
00:08known as Batu Putih.
00:10Fishermen passing by the outcrop might have dismissed it for its insignificant size.
00:15But in reality, Batu Putih and two of its neighbouring maritime features, Middle Rocks
00:20and South Ledge, were the source of a rocky dispute between Malaysia and Singapore that
00:24lasted for 28 years.
00:27The controversy could be traced back to 1979 when Malaysia published a map showing Batu
00:32Putih within its territorial waters.
00:34However, Singapore formally rejected the Malaysian map in a diplomatic note issued the next year.
00:41The two countries eventually agreed to refer the matter to the International Court of Justice
00:46after failing to resolve their dispute following a series of intergovernmental talks.
00:51In 2008, the ICJ ruled that Batu Putih belonged to Singapore, Middle Rocks to Malaysia and
00:57South Ledge to the state in the territorial waters in which it is located.
01:02In 2017, the Barisan National Government, led by Najib Razak, filed an application to
01:07review the court's judgement.
01:08However, the new Pakatan Harapan government, helmed by Dr Mahathir Mohamad, withdrew the
01:13application in 2018.
01:16Mahathir had since defended his decision to discontinue the case, saying that several international
01:21lawyers had told him that Malaysia lacked the silver bullet needed to secure victory.
01:26In February this year, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim agreed to set up a Royal Commission
01:31of Inquiry to review the handling of the case.
01:35Former Chief Justice Rauz Sharif was appointed the RCI Chairman while retired Federal Court
01:40Judge Zainon Ali will be his deputy.
01:44Natasha Bust, FMT News.
Comments